Negative thoughts

[Amerpreet]

While doing the meditation if we encounter with negative thoughts so what should one do, should it stop doing the meditations or not. how to know the meditation that one is doing is right or wrong for self.

[Miss Hepburn]

Ah, unwanted thoughts...my expertise!

They are like coming to a TV channel you don't want to watch.
Turn the channel to a pleasant or wanted thought.
It is that easy.
I did that the first time for a week ...and I never stopped practicing Thought Control...
hmm, that was 14 years ago...couldn't be happier.
You have the steering wheel in your hands, always remember that, my friend! :)

[Apakhana Akshobhya]

Its true lol the steering wheel is in your hands.

Without us knowing what you are doing exactly I'd just say to realize that the point is to let go while maintaining awareness. We can aim to simply be aware that thought itself is just a thing happening but as soon as we start to discriminate that it's bad or good and assign qualities to it then we have entangled into dualistic thought again. All our perception is deluded and colored already too much as it is so stop judging your thoughts.

It works best to try and see passed thoughts or through them by the act of noticing thought is a thing that is happening but that's it.
The middle way of sorts.

If there's a space thought happens in then what is on the outside of that space?

Don't judge your thoughts. Everybody has ridiculous thoughts, you're not alone. 8 billion people have crazy thoughts and don't even know why.
It's better to be wakeful and look for where thoughts are coming from, and where do they disappear to, versus getting entangled with them and judging their subject. In the spaces between them allow the awareness to calmly sit.

The best way to determine whether a meditation is right or wrong for oneself is to only do meditations given to you by a teacher who knows where you are at on the path. Otherwise we jump around trying this and that without really understanding what the point is or knowing if we are doing it right at all. Find a teacher that matches your intention.

I hope it helps to hear, just remember meditation and a zen abiding in stillness of mind is an easygoing approach. You likely do it all the time when you aren't trying but as soon as you start to try it pushes it farther away.

Calm, organic, natural. Like falling asleep. If you think about falling asleep and force it then it doesn't happen but when you sigh and give up it happens.

[Bill1673]

I started out with guided meditations. They really helped me understand what it is that I'm looking for. My favorite is Jon Kabat- Zinn. I'd say his practice is of mindfulness ( concentration on the now and the breath). To me he is amazing. Through him I've learned keeping your thoughts and awareness on now, it keeps your mind from racing. It took me a good few months to finally settle in.

[A human Being]

I think it's useful to understand that negative thoughts are being fuelled by some unresolved emotion in the body, and it's that underlying emotion that needs to be felt and released in order to be free of the negative thoughts - and that probably isn't going to happen overnight, so you do need to be patient and disciplined. Meditators sometimes try to force their minds to be quiet, but that approach isn't going to resolve the underlying issue (it may actually reinforce emotional repression by generating more tension in the body) - I think of meditation as a relaxation and an allowing as much as anything, it isn't about trying to have a particular experience (or trying to not have a particular experience).

Originally Posted by Amerpreet

how to know the meditation that one is doing is right or wrong for self.

I like the spiritual teacher Jon Bernie's rule of thumb for whether or not a spiritual practice is working: 'Is the space opening, or is it getting tighter?'. I think how you approach it is also hugely important - I think of it in terms of allowing my deeper nature to gradually emerge, it isn't about trying to force something to appear that isn't already present. Peace and love is here already, it's just being obscured by the noise/agitation/unrest of the mind and body; the problem for the majority of people (myself included) is that they're constantly wrestling with their inner experience, which only keeps them stuck. Meditation, as I see it, is simply the cessation of that inner conflict.

[Joymiswealthy]

Originally Posted by Amerpreet

While doing the meditation if we encounter with negative thoughts so what should one do, should it stop doing the meditations or not. how to know the meditation that one is doing is right or wrong for self.

one thing you have to learn during meditation is focus. it takes time but you'll get used to it. learning how to focus on your meditation will stop you from having negative thoughts.

Originally Posted by Amerpreet

While doing the meditation if we encounter with negative thoughts so what should one do, should it stop doing the meditations or not. how to know the meditation that one is doing is right or wrong for self.

If i try to answer you in details, it would become very long, perhaps too long to read so i will try to keep it as short as possible.

let me take your last question first whether you are doing it right or wrong. The answer is in whatever way you are trying to meditate is right and you have to keep on in the exact way because that is working for you. Your experience of having negative thoughts is the proof that it is working just as it is supposed to be.

Now, the first question is why you are experiencing negative thoughts. To understand that, we have to understand how meditation works. we have conscious and subconscious minds where later is many times powerful than the former one. That is the default position for all humans. Meditation tries to reverse this position by making conscious mind stronger than its counterpart.

In normal condition subconscious rules over conscious. Not only that, whatever we have been experienced in our lives is stored there but conscious mind does not have the capacity to tap these past memories and thoughts. But, when we meditate, our conscious mind starts gaining strength and at some point, it becomes able to tap what is stored in the subconscious. That is why we all experience random thoughts during meditation.

Lastly, what you are experiencing, happens to all in one way or other. So, it is not a big deal. The only remedy of your problem is try to keep your mind engaged in meditation as much as possible. But, those thoughts would not got away easily and keep coming and distract you. The only thing you can do rectify is to not to leave your mind unoccupied but kept engaged completely in meditation and over the time, the situation will improve, thought not overnight. It is a continuous struggle which every aspirant has to face and deal on its own.

with love,
sanjay

[Joymiswealthy]

Originally Posted by Amerpreet

While doing the meditation if we encounter with negative thoughts so what should one do, should it stop doing the meditations or not. how to know the meditation that one is doing is right or wrong for self.

i think in meditation, we should really learn how to practice refocusing. so whenever you have negative thoughts..you'll know what to do to go back on focus

[Guillaume]

I've seen the following advice somewhere (don't remember where exactly, it'll be my own words) : even if you have negative thoughts, be happy that you can realize you have negative thoughts. Don't grasp them, try to take a step back, try to tell yourself "okay it's not pleasant but in a few seconds / minutes it will switch to something else".
But first, be happy that you are aware they are negative, it means you're watching them!

And actually the answer I'm giving was on the question: "how to know if I meditate correctly". But the simple fact that you wonder if you do it right or not is an indication that you were already watching your thoughts and not completely in them.
Then you're doing good :)

[Miss Hepburn]

I forgot - I never mentioned this on this thread...Boy, does EFT
the basic simple pattern online - does it ever help with neg thoughts!!!!
You tap like 7-8 points while saying something...it does some sort of re-programming in your brain patterns...
and works ..I've done it for 30 years...well, not that much anymore since it works!!! LOL
Don't ask me about it ---it's all in youtubes - easy to find.